Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-08-02
wksrM4Nsrta Assex.
oliver Wendell Holnaas' Impre,slon. AZ
Fps'and's Most Notable Structure. q

OAser Wendell Holnaas' Imprc,,sion. n
Eps'and'r Most Notable Structure.
think no part Of tho Abbey il yisited
with 30 much interest as Poet's' Corner,
We AFRO all Familiarity acquainted viii
hpeiorehand. We are all ready Tor ..C
rare Ben Johnsonl' as we stand ove,
Inc place where be was planted stand.
ing upright, AS IL he had been dronned
into post-hole, We remember t,,f
Wen the foolish and fippant Knockers
q Gay . Life Is Jest. II were 4
aean Of the cathedral, / should b
tempted to alter the Ito a g. Then va
could read It without contempt; for
hie - . gest, an achievement-or al.
ways ought to be. Westminster Abbex
is too crowded with monuments to I'M
INDUSTRIOUS dead md those who hive
been considered SO in their day to- to pro
duce any other than confused i'm
preston. When we visit the tomb o.
Napoleon at the Invalides, no side.
lights interfere with the view before us
IN the held OF mental vision. We see
Inc emperor; Marengo. Austerlitz,
waterloo, Saint Helena, come before MS
WITH MN rs their central figure. So at
Stratford-tlic cloptons and the John a
Combes, with all their memorials, can
not make nsliftoureyes from the stone
which covers the dust that once
Dreathed and walked the streets Of
Stratford as Shakespeare.
An but here is one marble counte-
nance that ! know full well, and knew
Tor many year in the flesh! Is there
az american who sees the bust of Long
ieilow among the eifigies OF the great
authors OF England without feeling a
thrill OF pleasure at recognizing the
FEATURES OF his native fellow-country-
man in the Vahalla Of ancestral fellow
conntrymcnP There are many memo
rails in Poets Corner and elsewhere in
tne Abbey which could be better spared
tnah that Too many that were placed
there as luminaries have become con-
spacious by their obscurity in the midst
OF that illustrious company. On the
whole, the Abbey produces distinct
sense OF being overcrowded. 1t APP
pears too much like a lapidary's store
room. Look up at the lofty roof, which
we Willingly pardon for shutting out
the heaven above us-at least in an
average London day; look down at the
moor, and think OF what precious relics
II covers; but do not look around you
Win the nope OF getting any clear, con-
centrated, satisfying effect from this
great museum OF gigantic funereal brio
abrac. Pardon me, shades of the mighty
dead! had something of this feeling, but
at another hour | might perhaps be over
come by emotion, and weep, as my fell
iow-countryman did at the grave of the
earliest OF his ancestors. 1should love
myself better in that respect than do
in this cold-blooded criticism; but it
suggested itself, and as no fattery can
soothe, so no censure can wound, ''tfe
dull, cold ear ofSdeath."
VI course we saw all the sights of the
Abbey in hurried way, yet with such
a guide and expositor as Archdeacon
Farrar our two hours visit was worth a
whole day with an undiscriminating
verger, who recites his lesson by rote,
and takes the life out of the little mob
that follows him round by emphasizing
the details OF his lesson until "Patience
on monument seems to be the suf-
ferer, who knows what he wants and
what he does not want, the nearest en-
blem OF himself he can think Of
Amidst all the imposing recollect;ons
OF the ancient editice, one impressed
me in the inverse ratio of its import
ance. The Archdeacon pointed out
the little holes in the stones, in one
place, where the boys OF the choir used
to play marbles before America was
discovered, probably-centuries be-
IOIc, III may De. III Is q strangely ILL.,